Oct. 11
NIGERIA:
Murderer convicted to death by hanging in Nigeria
On the eve of the Day against the Death Penalty, a man was convicted to a death
sentence by hanging in Nigeria. The sentence was emitted in Owerri, in southern
Nigeria, where a Court sentenced 2 servicemen, 1 to life and 1 to the death
penalty by hanging, for killing a Nigerian businessman with American
citizenship.
According to the Daily Trust newspapaper, the man sentenced to death, Bassey
Asinya, was found guilty of murdering a businessman named Sylvester Nnameka
Obiekea on Christmas morning of 2006 with 3 gun shots. A couple of days ago
another death sentence by hanging was passed against a police agent who was
found guilty of having shot on a car at a check-point, killing a 3-year old
little girl.
However, death penalties are rare in Nigeria and are not executed. The ruling
Government decided to pass a moratorium on the execution of death sentences
while waiting for the Parliament to repeal the death penalty from the National
codes.
Things were quite different during the military regimes which ended in 1999: at
the time, death penalties were more frequent and were executed in public, as a
warning to the population.
(source: AGI)
SAUDI ARABIA:
2 Nigerian Pilgrims Arrested In Saudi Arabia For Drugs Possession
2 Nigerian pilgrims have been arrested in Saudi Arabia for allegedly being in
possession of banned drugs.
The pilgrims were among the thousands currently undergoing the hajj operation
in Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia and comprise a male and female.
The 2 pilgrims could face death penalty for carrying banned drugs. In Saudi
Arabia, the punishment for carrying banned drugs is death when convicted by the
laws of the land.
P.M.NEWS gathered from a source currently undergoing the hajj operation in
Saudi Arabia that the 2 pilgrims were from Lagos State, but the Lagos State
Government said the pilgrims were from Kwara and Ekiti states. The banned drugs
were said to be hidden in garri. This has made the Saudi authorities to ban
carrying of foodstuff to the holy land by Nigerian pilgrims.
The Nigerian female was said to have been nabbed by vigilant Saudi security
operatives at the King Abdullaziz International Airport on Thursday for being
in possession of banned drugs. The other culprit was reported to have been
arrested on Sunday after being found with substance suspected to be cocaine.
The names of the pilgrims could not be ascertained by our source as at press
time. It was gathered that the pilgrims, if found guilty according to Saudi
law, would be executed.
Chairman, Lagos Hajj Ad-hoc Committee, Alhaji Abdullateef Abdulhakeem,
confirmed that two pilgrims were arrested by the Saudi Authorities but denied
that the arrested pilgrims were from Lagos, saying they were from Kwara and
Ekiti States.
As a result of the development, the Lagos State Government has barred the
remaining pilgrims going to Saudi Arabia from carrying foodstuffs.
Over 3, 000 Lagos pilgrims have so far been airlifted to Saudi Arabia out of
the 3,885 pilgrims from the state, while airlifting of the pilgrims may be
concluded this week.
The Lagos State Government has vowed to deal with any pilgrim who misbehaved in
Saudi Arabia during next month's hajj. To ensure hitch-free hajj, the Lagos
State Government said it had set up a special taskforce made up of officials of
the Rapid Response Squad, RRS, Chief Security Officer, CSO of the state and
Governor's Monitoring Team officials, among others to monitor Lagos pilgrims in
Saudi Arabia and deal with erring ones.
Commissioner for Home Affairs and Culture, Alhaji Oyinlomo Danmole said
government would not tolerate any form of indiscipline from any Lagos pilgrim.
"Any pilgrim who misbehaves will be dealt with. We also have a tribunal in
place to try erring pilgrims in Saudi Arabia," he said, adding that during the
last hajj, a pilgrim who misbehaved was prosecuted after the hajj in Lagos."
Chairman, Hajj Ad-hoc Committee, Abdulhakeem said government had adequately
prepared to ensure hitch-free hajj as it had organised seminar to enlighten the
intending pilgrims on the basic rules of hajj. "We have engaged the services of
a separate airline to convey our pilgrims to Saudi Arabia. We will not be using
the same airline with other pilgrims in the Southwest. We have also decided not
to keep our pilgrims longer in Saudi Arabia after the hajj.
(soruce: Osun Defender)
SIERRA LEONE:
President Koroma speaks at presentation of the Abolitionist Award ceremony
We welcome this esteemed delegation of the 'Hands Off Cain' organization to our
country. You have come at a very interesting time; people everywhere in the
country are being mobilized to choose those who will govern the nation for the
next 5 years. These are times when the people ask important questions about the
government, and about those who want to be elected into government. Some of
these questions are outrightly about life and death. Are our lives safe in the
hands of the country's leadership? Will there be extra-judicial deaths at the
hands of agents of the state? Are there instances when those aspiring to lead
government put an end to the lives of Sierra Leoneans? Will the leadership of
the state use the institutions of the state to execute people?
READ THE FULL STATEMENT BELOW :
Statement by His Excellency the President
Dr. Ernest Bai Koroma
On the Occasion of the Presentation of The Abolitionist of the Year 2012 Award
By the Hands Off Cain
October 10, 2012
We welcome this esteemed delegation of the 'Hands Off Cain' organization to our
country. You have come at a very interesting time; people everywhere in the
country are being mobilized to choose those who will govern the nation for the
next 5 years. These are times when the people ask important questions about the
government, and about those who want to be elected into government. Some of
these questions are outrightly about life and death. Are our lives safe in the
hands of the country's leadership? Will there be extra-judicial deaths at the
hands of agents of the state? Are there instances when those aspiring to lead
government put an end to the lives of Sierra Leoneans? Will the leadership of
the state use the institutions of the state to execute people?
My own leadership of the country in the last 5 years has answered these
questions: There have been no capital punishments; we commuted the death
sentences of people on death row during our Fiftieth Anniversary Celebrations
in 2011; the lives of our people are safe in our hands.
You have come here to honor us for answering these questions, you have come
here to recognize our efforts; and for practically demonstrating our
commitments. The last 2 executions carried out in the country were of 24
persons in 1998, and 29 persons in 1992. These were the largest number of
executions carried out on a single day by any government. Sierra Leoneans are
still reeling from those largest numbers of executions carried out on a single
day by agents of the state. Sierra Leoneans don't want a repeat of state
sanctioned executions. Sierra Leoneans don???t want a return to those days. My
Government's commitments reflect these aspirations of our people.
On September 13, 2011, My Government accepted in principle, and subject to
constitutional review 15 resolutions calling to abolish the death penalty. We
have already made a commitment on putting the question of the abolition of the
death penalty on the legislative agenda of government. The Constitutional
Review process will be resumed after the elections, and its recommendation on
the abolition of the death penalty will be very integral to our program for
defending, protecting and promoting human rights.
It is now my honor, on behalf of the people of this country, to accept 'The
Abolitionist of the Year Award 2012.'
God Bless Us all
(source: Cocorioko.net)
****************************
Ahead of Nomination Day President Koroma Bags More Accolades
His Excellency Dr Ernest Bai Koroma has yet again bagged another award as the
"The Abolitionist of the Year 2012 Award" conferred on him by the "Hands Off
Cain", a league of citizens and parliamentarians for the Moratorium on
Executions; the name "Hands Off Cain" is inspired by the book of Genesis, which
includes not only the phrase "an eye for an eye" but also "And the Lord set a
sign upon Cain, lest any finding him should smite him".
The award is presented to recognize the President of Sierra Leone for
demonstrated and extraordinary commitment in the struggle for a moratorium on
executions and abolition of the death penalty.
According to "Hands Off Cain" their decision to award the President stemmed
from his stance of April 2011, on the occasion of the 50th Anniversary of
independence from Great Britain, to commence all death sentences. "In addition,
on 13th September 2010, the delegation of Sierra Leone announced at the UN
Human Rights Council accepting "in principle and subject to constitutional
review" fifteen recommendations calling to abolish the death penalty."
It is worthy to note that President Dr Ernest Bai Koroma is the 3rd African
Leader to receive such an honour in the continent.
Some of the recipients of the award in the last 6 years are the following:
President of Senegal Abdoulia Wade, in 2005
President of the United States of Mexico Vicente Fox Quesada, in 2006
President of Rwanda Paul Kagame, in 2007
Governor of New Mexico, Bill Richardson and Rep. Gail Chasey, in 2009
President of Mongolia Tsakhia Elbegdorj, in 2011
(source: All Headline News)
GLOBAL:
Death Penalty Campaigners Worry About the Steps Back
10 years of campaigning by the World Coalition against the Death Penalty have
brought fruit: the number of countries that have abolished capital punishment
in law or practice has gone up to 140. But some countries have resumed
executions this year.
"Today, 140 countries have abolished the death penalty in law or practice. They
are either completely abolitionist or have not carried out any execution for at
least ten years as an official policy, not a random phenomenon. This makes up
70 % of the world states," Jan Erik Wetzel, Amnesty International advocate for
the death penalty, told IPS in an interview.
"In 2003, only 80 countries were completely abolitionist. Ten years later,
their number has risen to 97. We have abolition or a dramatic decrease of the
executions in all regions and legal systems of the world. Asia and the Arab
region are more difficult than others, but the death penalty is surmountable
everywhere."
According to Amnesty International, 14 countries still retain the death penalty
in Asia. But 17, including Cambodia, Nepal, Bhutan, the Philippines and East
Timor, have abolished it for all crimes. China, that executes most people by
far in the world, has abolished the death penalty for 13 mostly economic
crimes.
In the Middle East and North Africa, 4 out of 19 countries - Iran, Iraq, Saudi
Arabia and Yemen - accounted for 99 % of all executions last year, with a
dramatic increase in Iraq (mainly for "terrorist" crimes) and Saudi Arabia
(particularly for drug offenders). An increase was noted also in the Hamas
controlled part of the Gaza strip. But Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan,
Turkey, Albania, Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco and Djibouti have either abolished
or reduced executions dramatically. In Lebanon and Jordan the number of the
death sentences has gone down, even though to a lesser extent.
"In Tunisia and Egypt, after the Arab spring, we have made sure that the death
penalty becomes a part of the discussion," Wetzel said. "In Tunisia, we
suggested to abolish it and discussions are still ongoing, but the signs are
not good. For these countries, we had high hopes after the uprisings, but they
have not materialised."
However, he finds it encouraging that Tunisia has not executed for more than a
decade, and that President Moncef Marzouki commuted 122 death sentences in
January this year. And that in Egypt former president Hosni Mubarak was
sentenced to life imprisonment. "The death penalty has become part of the
political conversation, when nobody talked about it before. There are very
committed activists in both countries. Since the uprisings, they do a lot of
grassroots work that may not bring success immediately."
"In Egypt, for the 1st time people can shape the agenda," Amr Issam of the
Mission of Egypt to the UN told IPS. It would be difficult for the new
government to go against the majority of the population, he said. "The key
challenge is to have a constructive dialogue to encourage states to revisit the
list of crimes that are punishable by death. And to bring in more safeguards
and a more independent judicial process."
States that retain the death penalty must limit it to the most serious crimes,
which has been interpreted to mean the crime of murder, Kyung-Wha Kang, deputy
UN high commissioner for human rights, reminded a conference to celebrate 10
years of a campaign against the death penalty at the United Nations office in
Geneva this week. Use of the death penalty for drug smuggling should be
abolished, he said.
"In the early 1990s, we started cooperation between civil society and the
Italian government for a moratorium," said Emma Bonino, vice-president of the
Italian Senate and a pioneer in the fight against capital punishment. "Many
human rights groups were against the moratorium, they wanted to go for
abolition. It has been a tough discussion. But today people recognise that
having gone for a moratorium was a success. All the countries that have arrived
to abolition have first gone through it."
According to Amnesty International, each year, in addition to an unknown number
of people executed in China, many countries including Iran, the U.S., Yemen and
North Korea each carry out scores of executions. And there are backlashes: this
year, Botswana, the Gambia and Japan resumed executions. Gambia had not carried
out executions for the past 30 years.
A collateral and completely neglected effect of capital punishment is its
impact on the orphans left behind. "There is very little research on this
issue," Helen Kearney, from the Quakers UN Office in Geneva, told IPS. "But
evidence highlights serious emotional implications for these children, such as
post-traumatic stress diseases and a huge social stigma."
She deplores the lack of data collection, even in the United States, where no
special programme exists to take care of the children. In some countries,
especially the ones where the death penalty is routinely applied in cases of
domestic violence and the children may lose both parents, they end up on the
street. "We want a reframing of this question. It is a child rights and a
public health issue, it is intergenerational and it reaches out to the wider
community. States must take their responsibility."
(source: Inter Press Service)
INDONESIA:
Convict escapes capital punishment
The Supreme Court has once again annulled a death sentence handed down to a
drug convict, reducing it to life sentence, at a time when the government is
pledging to increase the use of capital punishment.
The official website of the Supreme Court said that a panel of appellate judges
had accepted a case review of international drug ring member Deni Setia
Maharwa, also known as Rapi Mohammed Majid, commuting the death penalty to
life.
In early 2000, Deni was apprehended at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in
Jakarta for trying to smuggle 3 kilograms of cocaine and 3.5 kilograms of
heroin out of the country. Deni was sentenced to death by the Tangerang
District Court on Aug. 22, 2000. The following year, the Supreme Court rejected
his appeal.
The Supreme Court did not say when the ruling on the case review was issued.
The court only revealed that a request for the case review had been filed in
June last year.
Deni is the 7th drug convict to have escaped the death penalty. The Supreme
Court had earlier commuted a death sentence against Meirika Franola, Deni's
accomplice in the crime, to life.
Other death row inmates whose sentences have been commuted are Hanky Gunawan;
Nigerian national, Hillary K. Chimezie; Australian, Matthew James Norman;
Vietnamese-Australian, Tan Duc Thanh Nguyen; and Chinese national, Si Yi Chen.
The Supreme Court's decisions have won plaudits from human rights activists who
are convinced that the death penalty has no deterrent effect on criminals.
The Law and Human Rights Ministry, however, said it would double its efforts in
favor of more death sentences. Deputy Law and Human Rights Minister Denny
Indrayana said the government would particularly target drug and graft
convicts.
"One sentence commutation doesn't affect all [Supreme Court decisions]. We will
still apply the death penalty. The Supreme Court has determined that the death
penalty is constitutional," Denny said on Wednesday during a seminar on capital
punishment to commemorate World Day against the Death Penalty.
Deny said the death penalty would be a last resort for punishing drug and graft
convicts, whom he considered had committed "crimes against humanity."
The former aide to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono also insisted that
Indonesia would not be adopting the 2007 United Nations General Assembly
Resolution 62/149, which calls for a moratorium on capital punishment.
"Each country has different needs. The death penalty exists only if needed," he
said.
(source: Jakarta Post)
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